Future commissioners line up but no clear contender for the health portfolio

We are still some way away from commissioner hearings in the European Parliament, but one milestone has been met: each member state has put forward at least one nominee.
From a health perspective, there is no obvious contender for health commissioner. Only Cyprus has put forward a nominee with any real experience of health; biologist Costas Kadis served as a health minister from July 2007 to February 2008.
He was so interested in health that he only stayed seven months in the role, most of his subsequent experience is in agriculture and the environment.
The health portfolio has never been up there with high representative, trade or competition, but its star briefly rose when member states realised that common European action in the jealously guarded field of health comes in real handy when you’re dealing with a pandemic.
We use the title of health commissioner advisedly; It is almost certain that the next commissioner for health won’t have the additional task of monitoring food safety, but watch this space.
We may have more clues of where food safety may lie following today’s final report of the “Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture”.
Someone, or more likely, some people are currently drafting the mission letter that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will deliver to the new nominee.
At the same time, a large dossier will be prepared to deal with questions that could arise during the European Parliament hearing. Those involved might like to take a peek at Bruegel’s memo for the new commissioner for health, published this morning.
Health security
On health security, Bruegel makes the bold suggestion that HERA should be merged into ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control).
The thinking is that this might help in supporting large-scale investment in R&D for counter-medical measures, though the memo also points to the more prosaic explanation, “but it would need an adequate budget.”
The ‘One Health’ plans could be enhanced with better member state coordination and stronger mandates for the European Food Safety and Environmental agencies, with more involvement in global discussions.
Highly innovative pharma
Bruegel sees the fundamental problem in pharma as a structural failure to address the sectors loss in competitiveness. The memo calls for an ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) for medical research in top-down priorities and high risk projects.
The memo calls for a review of the legislation on Advanced Therapies and Medicinal Products (ATMP) and a new protocol on clinical trials to be managed by the European Medicines Agency.
It is acknowledged that innovative medicines often come at a price, so a few suggestions are made on new pricing and reimbursement models including joint procurement, pay-for-performance and annuity models.
ECDC to take on non-communicable disease
Given ECDC’s existing links with national health authorities and the growing numbers of calls for action plans in different areas of non-communicable disease, from cardiovascular to neurodegenerative diseases, Bruegel touts for ECDC to extend its mandate to cover non-communicable disease.
Lots of food for thought, that may chime well with a Commission that will be more focused on enhancing Europe’s competitiveness.

WHO Pandemic Agreement talks resume

Negotiations on a Pandemic Agreement have restarted in Geneva. The key topics include pandemic prevention and surveillance, the pathogen access and benefit sharing system, the legal architecture of the agreement and the One Health approach.

Economic levers for addressing AMR

“Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens to become one of the biggest health challenges facing humanity, with devastating consequences, if humanity fails to take immediate action,” is an eye-opening introduction to this report focusing on which financial and economic levers and financing and budgeting tools can help guarantee the funding and implementation of national action plans (NAPs) on AMR.

EU supports action to attract and retain nurses

The Commission has agreed to support a WHO/Europe project aimed at helping member states retain nurses in their healthcare systems. The project has received a very modest he agreement, funded with €1.3 million for a three-year period. Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said, “Today’s action is a sign of our commitment to address the serious health workforce issues that many member states are facing.”

Alcohol and breast cancer

WHO and the Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Alliance will hold a sponsored session at the World Cancer Center (WCC) on 17 September. The event will discuss data on alcohol-related cancers, with a focus on breast cancer.

WHO announces first virtual mini-conference on Population Health Management

WHO will host their first virtual mini-conference in their series highlighting Population Health Management (PHM) on 10-11 September. The conference will focus on discussing how “data-driven” PHM discussions can benefit primary health care (PHC) providers. WHO has identified 16 policy actions to address population health.

Novo Nordisk reveals more wonders of Wegovy

Novo Nordisk recently revealed new cardiovascular data at the annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology. A study, published in The Lancet, concluded that semaglutide, the active substance in Wegovy, aided in reducing the worsening of heart failure events.

Another study presented evidence that semaglutide could also reduce the risk of COVID-related death by about a third in patients taking the drug compared to the ones taking the placebo. While not preventing the trial patients from getting COVID, the researchers suggested that the weight loss aided by the drug could be a potential reason for this reduced death rate.

Vitestro’s autonomous blood drawing device receives CE marking

Viterstro has announced that its automated blood drawing device has been approved for commercial use. This technology will provide hospitals with accurate blood draws without “manual handling”.

Illumina, a global leader in DNA sequencing technologies, has won a battle against the EU over its decision to block the merger between it and Grail, a company specialising in early cancer detection through genetic diagnostics.

France has updated its vaccination recommendations in the face of a rise in mpox cases in Central Africa linked to the clade I and clade Ib variants, despite the low risk of the virus being introduced into the country.

Teenagers are using fewer condoms when having sex, a report commissioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has found, leading to concerns over the risks of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

As the Paris 2024 Paralympics kicks off, the event shines a light on the global disparities in access to life-changing assistive technology, with a new campaign from the WHO and the games committee aimed at raising awareness and addressing this critical issue.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria under pressure to provide free biomarker tests for cancer patients

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Netherlands

Netherlands should raise generics prices to combat drug shortages, says Dutch bank

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Ireland

Ireland preparing tough new tobacco and nicotine regulations following public consultation

New pharmacy prescribing roles in Ireland could alleviate overstretched doctors

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Poland

Poland facing alarming surge in whooping cough cases, and vaccine shortages

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Sweden

Sweden favours compulsory application for medicines reimbursement in any member state requesting it

4 September|European Parliament, Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI). An exchange of views with DG HERA, the ECDC and EMA on mpox outbreak and draft opinion on the general budget for 2025 on the agenda. Follow live from 9:00

4 September | European Court of Auditors, will publish a report analysing EU medical agencies and their responses to the COVID Pandemic (17:00)

4 September | Second day of WHO pandemic treaty dialogue continues. Following discussions on Article 12 - Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing, today's talks focus on: legal architecture, coherence with International Health Regulation, surveillance and One Health

5 September|Council Working Party on Public Health

6 September|Council Working Party on Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices

9 September|European Parliament, Subcommittee on Public Health

12 September|European Parliament, Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

17 September|Council recommendations on smoke free environment expected

*Clara Bauer-Babef, Catherine Feore, Jeremias Lin, Ainhoa Urquiola González and Lydia Williams contributed to this brief.

[Edited by Alice Taylor-Braçe]

Thanks for reading. Stay healthy and see you next week!

We would love to hear from you about what you would be interested to see in future newsletters - do not hesitate to reach out to us! Be sure to spread the word and come and say hello on Twitter.
Catherine Feore, Health Editor, Clara Bauer-Babef, Health Reporter